This weekend’s home clash with Chelsea precedes a hugely promising run of four fixtures that sees Newcastle ripe for Fantasy investment….
Three home games in the next four for Blackburn has us pondering Steve Kean’s attacking assets, while Jamie O’Hara will be looking to fire Wolves up the table with a kind run of matches at Molineux on the horizon.
Our new rankings are viewable in your sidebar as ever. Read on for details of this week’s big moves.
Swansea’s sixth clean sheet of the season against Villa once again rewarded owners of Michel Vorm. The Dutchman climbs back on top of our keeper rankings, toppling Sunderland’s Kieren Westwood who failed miserably to capitalise on a home clash with lowly Wigan at the weekend and now suffers a drop as his fixtures stiffen, with three away trips in the next four gameweeks.
Newcastle’s Tim Krul and Blackburn’s Paul Robinson now occupy the top three slots – both enjoy improved fixtures, with the latter offering a good fit when it comes to alternating with the aforementioned Vorm.
Leighton Baines retains the top spot in our defender rankings, having delivered a goal, assist and a clean sheet over his last two outings. With fixtures on his side, Baines has every opportunity to go on delivering and justify his hefty price tag; with just 6.1% ownership, Baines also presents a potentially profitable differential going into the Christmas period.
Left-backs dominate our current thinking – with Jose Enrique and Ryan Taylor featuring next. Both carry attacking potential and line up in defences that are well capable of returning clean sheets in the coming gameweeks as fixtures improve for the pair.
With Phil Jones rested from the 1-1 with Newcastle, his placing in our rankings takes a dent. With very strong fixtures over the next six gameweeks, Jones holds in fourth but would have perhaps pushed up further with if his starting role had been more secure. There’s no question that coverage of the improved United defence looks desirable for the month ahead and Jones remains the best value route in to Alex Ferguson’s defence. Only Nemanja Vidic and perhaps Patrice Evra present real security.
The situation with the City defence was confused further by Vincent Kompany’s smartly taken goal at Anfield – his second of the season. Having previously failed to threaten goals from set-pieces, Kompany is now a clear menace to opposition from a dead-ball. Micah Richards, however, has his own threat at set-plays and is unquestionably more likely to offer assists, having delivered five so far this term. It’s a close call between the pair, with Kompany perhaps delivering the greater security – we go with Richards for now.
Rafael Van der Vaart’s hamstring injury has him drop from the top of our midfield rankings. There’s still uncertainty over the Dutchman’s availability for the weekend clash with Bolton and his FPL ownership has suffered as a result. Van der Vaart holds in our top five, but David Silva’s consistency has him climb to the top, with Tottenham’s Gareth Bale benefiting from four consecutive gameweeks of returns to claim second.
Chelsea’s Juan Mata delivered on his potential in the 3-0 dismantling of Wolves of the weekend – his second double figure FPL return of the season. With Frank Lampard rested to the bench, Mata succeeds the England veteran as our weapon of choice within Andre Villas-Boas’ midfield. Although fixtures stiffen badly for Chelsea in the coming weeks, this may well see attacking returns increase as the Blues are forced to retaliate against Newcastle, City and Tottenham in the next four gameweeks.
Lower down the rankings, mid-price potential is offered by Wolves’ Jamie O’Hara, Bolton’s Chris Eagles, Sunderland’s Seb Larsson and the omnipresent Jon Walters of Stoke.
Newcastle’s Hatem Ben Arfa is perhaps the most intriguing new option here – offering out of position potential, playing up in support of Demba Ba. There will be concerns of the security of the Frenchman’s starting role once Alan Pardew’s options up front are restored, but if Ben Arfa can do enough to cement his start, at 5.4 in the FPL, he looks a strong value option.
The forward rankings see movement in the top three with Tottenham’s Emmanuel Adebayor and United’s Javier Hernandez the men in form, with the fixtures to maintain it through December. They benefit from declining confidence in City’s Sergio Aguero who has returned 2 goals in his last seven appearances. The Argentine’s winner from the bench in last night’s Carling Cup tie issued a reminder of his qualities, and with Norwich the visitors this weekend, he remains firmly in our Fantasy plans. Both Adebayor and Hernandez have stronger form and fixtures to come however.
Newcastle’s Demba Ba and Chelsea’s Daniel Sturridge both maintain high rankings with decent form – Ba in particular enjoys a big climb with his fixtures improving markedly in December.
Blackburn’s pairing of Yakubu and Junior Hoilett present budget options lower down the rankings; while Steve Kean’s side have struggled for results, goals are flowing and both players should be in line for profits from a run of three home games in four. Like Baines in defence and O’Hara in midfield, they are your December differentials for those looking to gamble in order to close a mini-league gap.
